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Maldonado fastest in free practice

Pastor Maldonado set the pace in the 30 minutes of free practice ahead of qualifying for the GP2 Series round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium

The Venezuelan lapped the track in 1:57.055 in his Piquet Sports-run car, just 0.048 seconds quicker than series leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering).

Making Pantano's morning even better, his nearest title rivals Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi were down in 15th and 14th respectively after a troubled session.

Valencia winner Vitaly Petrov was third fastest for Campos, ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Arden), the surprisingly rapid Davide Valsecchi (Durango) and Karun Chandhok (iSport).

Andi Zuber (Piquet), Andy Soucek (Super Nova), Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) - who ended his session in the gravel - and his teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio rounded out the top 10.

As well as Senna and di Grassi, also outside the top 10 was Romain Grosjean, who spun his ART car to a halt and ended the session 16th. His teammate, Sakon Yamamoto, also had a wild spin, while Petrov got away with straight-lining Les Combes without spinning.

Pos  Driver        Team                        Time               Laps
 1.  Maldonado     Piquet Sports               1:57.055            12
 2.  Pantano       Racing Engineering          1:57.103  + 0.048   10
 3.  Petrov        Barwa International Campos  1:57.219  + 0.164   11
 4.  Buemi         Trust Team Arden            1:57.333  + 0.278   12
 5.  Valsecchi     Durango                     1:57.537  + 0.482   13
 6.  Chandhok      iSport International        1:57.558  + 0.503   11
 7.  Zuber         Piquet Sports               1:57.576  + 0.521   12
 8.  Soucek        Super Nova Racing           1:57.644  + 0.589   12
 9.  Kobayashi     Dams                        1:57.661  + 0.606   11
10.  D'Ambrosio    Dams                        1:57.681  + 0.626   13
11.  Parente       Super Nova Racing           1:57.760  + 0.705   12
12.  Rodriguez     FMS International           1:57.803  + 0.748   14
13.  Yamamoto      ART Grand Prix              1:57.874  + 0.819    9
14.  Di Grassi     Barwa International Campos  1:57.905  + 0.850   11
15.  Senna         iSport International        1:57.998  + 0.943   11
16.  Grosjean      ART Grand Prix              1:58.265  + 1.210   10
17.  Filippi       Trust Team Arden            1:58.420  + 1.365   12
18.  Tung          Trident Racing              1:58.476  + 1.421   12
19.  Nunes         DPR                         1:58.494  + 1.439   13
20.  Conway        Trident Racing              1:58.611  + 1.556   13
21.  Asmer         FMS International           1:58.960  + 1.905   11
22.  Valerio       Durango                     1:59.127  + 2.072   12
23.  Villa         Racing Engineering          1:59.146  + 2.091   10
24.  Valles        BCN Competicion             1:59.148  + 2.093   13
25.  Herck         DPR                         1:59.416  + 2.361   11
26.  Iaconelli     BCN Competicion             1:59.487  + 2.432   13

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